Abstract
Psychotherapy Transference and Countertransference Today. Robert Oelsner, editor. London (GB): Routledge; 2013. 361 p. US$54.95Reviewer rating: ExcellentThis tribute to Heinrich Racker's classic Transference and Counter-transference1 begins with an effective introduction by Robert Oelsner. Racker shows how the content of the countertransference reaction can demonstrate the content of the transference situation. Oelsner lias collected a group of experienced clinicians able to reflect thoughtfully about their experiences and articulate their understanding of various aspects of transference and countertransference in a clear manner. This is an important contribution to the contemporary psychoanalytic literature and a fitting tribute to Racker. Horacio Etchegoyen emphasizes that the analytic task does not consist only of an analysis of the transference, which risks splitting the present and the past, usually idealizing the analyst and denigrating the parents. He stresses the importance of the patient's realization that what happens to Mm or her with the analyst also happens at home, at work, and happened as a clfild in the house of their parents. Haydee Faimberg notes that when the analyst lias repeated difficulties in listening to certain aspects of what the patient says and cannot say, and cannot overcome these difficulties, it seems right to infer the involvement of a neurotic resistance from witlfin the analyst's own psyche. Abel Fainstein observes that the analyst's perception of countertransference feelings serves as an indicator of the analysis' progress. Feeling bored may be a sign of resistance, wlfile perceiving a patient's aggression may be understood as progress in so far as the patient can express their aggression. Robert Hinshelwood uses 3 criteria to define a countertransference moment: the patient's transference, indications of the psychoanalyst's emotional responses expressed indirectly, and some untoward action of the analyst appropriate to their linked emotional state. This chapter will fascinate all readers interested in Freud's case lfistories. Heinz Weiss develops Money-Kyrle's ideas regarding evasive manoeuvres directed against aspects of reality that are especially difficult to bear, including dependency on the breast as an external source of goodness, the recognition of the parental intercourse as a supremely creative act from which the clfild is excluded, and recogmtion of the inevitability of time and ultimately death.Alessandra Lemma creates a very useful metaphor contrasting pedestrian and equestrian views of analytic work. Yolanda Gampel considers the effects of social political violence in children, the analyst, and the analytic process. Mirta Berman-Oelsner provides a good introduction to concepts important in child psychoanalysis and describes special challenges for child analysis. James Grotstein writes of human sacrifice as the hidden order of transference-countertransference in a fascinating chapter in which he shares his reminiscences of Wilfred Bion. …
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